If you live around Charlotte then you may have picked up a copy of a local magazine called Elevate Lifestyle.  Elevate Lifestyle is a monthly magazine that provides insight on cultural, entertainment, dining, and nightlife in Charlotte.  It also highlights particular businesses in the Charlotte community that may appeal to its audience. 

In the March 2009 issue of Elevate Lifestyle, I was fortunate enough to have a few of my images included in an article about engagement sessions.  My friend and fellow photographer Laura Vossberg is the cultural editor at Elevate Lifestyle and wrote a story about how engagement sessions have changed in recent years.  In her article, Laura highlighted the experience that she and her fiance Brian had on their engagement shoot, as well as the different locations that we choose for the shoot.  I was Laura and Brian’s photographer on their engagement shoot and she include a handful of images from their session in her article (look for them in this blog).  Check out the March 2009 issue to read the article and see the images.  You can find it here.

As I mentioned in a previous post, engagement sessions are a great opportunity for you as a client to get to know your wedding photographer.  Most couples do not have e-sessions, but really should consider them.  They are fun, laid-back, easy going, and provide you the opportunity for some really compelling lifestyle images that you will love.  Best of all, you get the chance to work with your photographer ahead of your wedding day and become better acquainted with the camera.  This will make your wedding day images that much better and help your photographer get to know and understand your personality.

Share to:FacebookTwitterPinterestEmailLink
  • April 12, 2011 - 12:35 am

    Dorie - TYVM you’ve sloevd all my problems

 I love engagement sessions!  Engagement sessions give me the opportunity to get to know my clients before their wedding day.  Not just to discuss their wedding, but to really get to know them beyond the photographer/client relationship.  It is also a time for couples to see how I work and to become comfortable in front of the camera before the big day.  I highly encourage prospective brides/grooms to consider having an engagement session with their wedding photographer.  It is a great opportunity to get to know your photographer and it will it will insure that your wedding day is a huge success.

Bryan and Danielle met me uptown for their engagement session at the corner of Trade & Tryon because they wanted a modern twist to their session.  They did not want anything too traditional and instead wanted to incorporate the city lights into their images.  Bryan and Daneille are also very nice, fun loving people, so the feel of uptown Charlotte suited them for their engagement shoot.  My goal for the shoot was to try and capture the city lights, while at the same time add a romantic overtone to the images.  To do this, many of the images are shot using video lights and grids for spot-lighting effects.  I also captured many close-ups, as well as wide-angle shots to ad variety to the shoot.  I am a big fan of wide-angle photography and the addition of negative space to a photo.  Many shots below have this extra dimension to them.  Here are just a few from the session:

Share to:FacebookTwitterPinterestEmailLink

I had the pleasure of being asked to photograph the wedding of a good friend of mine who is also a fellow photographer.  Laura Vossberg and I often shoot wedding together, so when she asked me to be her wedding photographer I was very honored.  Laura and her finance Brian are really cool, so I wanted to do something special for them and put together an engagement photo session that would really capture what made their realationship unique.  To do that, we decided to actually do two engagement shoots.  The first one would take place in historic North Charlotte, better known as NoDa.  This is where Brian and Laura met.  The second shoot would take place uptown Charlotte under the city lights!

Here are some of the images from NoDa:

These shots are from out excursion uptown under the lights.  What is cool here, is that we were able to get shots with cartrails in the background since I brought my tripod.  I was also able to do some really cool shots using video lights for some more romantic looking imagary.  For couple looking for something different, I highly recommend doing an urban shoot under the lights.

Thank Laura and Brian!  Loking forward to your wedding!

Share to:FacebookTwitterPinterestEmailLink

After many months of hard work and saving $$$, I have finally launched my brand new website (same domain) www.brentgulledge.com and this blog.  The website domain has been around for years, but was in major need of an update, so I completely overhauled it and I think all my client will like it.  The best thing about the new website is that it allows me to show more of my work and many more gallaries of images.  I had clients ask me “Brent, when am I going to see my kids on your website”, but the problem was, I could not put them on there since I did not have room under the old website.  Problem solved!  Now, not only can I out more images up, but I can put whole chunks of client sessions on the website for everyone to see.  Best of all, the images are bigger and at a higher-resolution, so no more eye-squinting!

Now, as awesome as the new website is, this blog that you are reading from is just as great.  Why a blog and a website?  A website is a great place to show my portfolio and for my clients to order prints and products.  However, the blog is the place where I can talk about my photography.  It is where I can show up-to-date work on a month-to-month basis.  Blogging will allow me to talk more about what I am trying to achieve with my photography, what challenges I have to deal with on any given shoot, etc.  I can also give advise to potential clients about photography, as well as important wedding information and vendor details.  The possibilities are virtuality limitless!

Share to:FacebookTwitterPinterestEmailLink